• Sleeping pill prescriptions for seniors are too common and should be curtailed

    Madely Health Headlines Commentary for October 30, 2014 Source: Sleeping pill use by seniors too common, Choosing Wisely Canada says Reference: Sleeping pills won’t do seniors much good, Choosing Wisely Canada says

  • Prescription opiods associated with increasing levels of overdose and mortality: study

    Madely Health Headlines Commentary for December 8, 2009 Source: Study finds huge rise in oxycodone deaths (The “huge rise” is an increase of 13 per million) Reference: Prescribing of opioid analgesics and related mortality before and after the introduction of long-acting oxycodone

  • Initiation of benzodiazepines in the elderly after hospitalization

    Many people have difficulty sleeping in hospitals. Noisy wards to visits to the loss of a person’s lack daily routine are some of the contributing factors to insomnia. A new ICES study, Initiation of benzodiazepines in the elderly after hospitalization, in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine looked at prescribing…

  • Elderly suffer after lengthy use of anxiety drugs

    Mr. T. is a strapping 85 year-old man who suffers with an anxiety disorder. He also cares for his wife who is severely affected by Alzheimer’s. Twenty years ago he was prescribed clonazepam (Rivotril), a benzodiazepine (BDZ). He became dependent upon them to control his anxiety. BDZs and the elderly do not mix well.